UK Edition
Bring back the garden pond and help to save Britain's wildlife
The Wildlife Trusts and Royal Horticultural Society have just launched a new campaign to inspire the nation's gardeners to go back to making ponds.
In the Eighties heyday of television "makeover" gardening, scarcely a week went by without Charlie Dimmock or Alan Titchmarsh urging viewers to make a bubbling "water feature" the centrepiece of even the smallest back garden patio.
Ponds were a fashionable way of bringing attractive plants, sounds and, most importantly, wildlife to the garden. At its peak, the trend for water gardening saw the RHS Hampton Court Palace Flower Show become a national showcase, with many suppliers and show gardens dedicated to the theme.
But today, water garden specialists and aquatic suppliers have become fewer at recent RHS flower shows, and the demand for advice on water-related subjects has ebbed, too.
What is more, the UK has lost ponds, rivers and streams at a rapid rate and only a small amount of our natural ponds and wetlands remain. Many of these are in poor condition and 13 per cent of British freshwater and wetland species are threatened with extinction.
Campaigners hope to reverse this trend, as ponds are one of the most useful ways of enhancing garden biodiversity. With the loss of as much as 70 per cent of ponds from rural landscapes, ponds in gardens are more and more important as refuges for frogs, other amphibians and aquatic insects such as damselflies.
These, in turn, are important food resources for birds and other predators. If you’d like more wildlife in your garden, now is the time to create a balanced pond that will attract frog spawn next spring. Even this summer, plenty of pond life, such as pond-skaters, will start using it.
Chris Allan, a member of the Wisley rock garden team, works on a series of ponds from very small to large. “Especially helpful for wildlife in our ponds are water hawthorn and bog bean, whose flowers swarm with insects in summer,” he says.
Chris’s pools are usually full of frog spawn each spring, but marauding ducks can eat large quantities. To prevent this, he moves spawn into areas within the pond where vegetation provides plenty of cover, as this helps spawn and tadpoles to survive.
All ponds, even bucket-sized ones, are potentially good, but the shallows are especially beneficial. Although much can be done in a steep-sided pond with ramps, the best wildlife ponds have an area of “beach” and a gradual slope below the water line.
Pre-formed ponds often lack sufficient shallows, so using a flexible liner such as butyl rubber will allow you to create an ideal shape. One way of getting the best beach-like area, even in a small pond, is to dig it in a wedge shape with a shallow and a deep end.
The deep end need be no deeper than 2ft, as extra depth brings little additional benefit. Chris Allan says: “Visitors to Wisley, especially children, love to watch pond life, and we have paved or timber areas where the wildlife can be observed.”
Stepping stones in the shallow end that allow for pond dipping are feasible in home gardens. But if small children might fall in, a safety grid is vital.
Think carefully where you might site a new pond. Partial shade can be tolerated, but in deep shade some organisms, such as tadpoles, cannot complete their life cycles. Full sun is the ideal. When topping up or filling ponds, use rain water where possible, as it is free of nutrients. A nearby shed roof may offer the chance to harvest rain water.
Tap water is not so pure. For small top-ups it is unlikely to do much harm, but where greater volume is needed the balance of the pond may be upset. Water from ditches and streams will often be rich in nutrients, and likely to promote algae.
Algae is not attractive, but it is part of the normal pond flora, so do not lose heart if your pond has a certain amount. Filters and ultrasound are not wildlife-friendly so try to tolerate algae, within reason. Adding a bundle of straw and/or lavender clippings in early spring can offer some control.
There is no need to put soil in a new pond – sufficient silt and debris accumulates naturally to sustain pond floor organisms. Adding sludge from other ponds risks introducing unwanted organisms, including frog diseases, and is not necessary. Pond life arrives naturally. Indeed, the process of colonisation is fascinating and one of the many benefits of pond making.
Support the campaign to save British wildlife
- Download your free pond toolkit and find more inspiration for making your garden a wildlife haven at www.wildaboutgardens.org.uk. See the RHS events page for wetland or wildlife gardening events. Subscribe to the Wild About Gardens e-newsletter for updates and wonderful wildlife gardening ideas!